We’re honored to have Peter Mui, founder of Fixit Clinic, joining us from California at Gulf Coast Maker & Comic Con 2018! Fixit Clinic hosts community repair events throughout California and around the U.S. Nearly 300 Fixit Clinics have been held to date, hosted by municipal and county governments, recycling and environmental organizations, school systems, colleges and universities, and public libraries. Peter will be talking about his work and inviting local participation. He tells us more here.

Fixit Clinic is a “pop-up” activity where people bring their broken things to disassemble: many participants have never attempted opening up something before, often special tools are necessary to get inside. Fixit Clinic provides Fixit Coaches to help guide participants through their disassembly process, and have the special tools on hand.

Through thousands of community repair events such as FixIt Clinics, Repair Cafés and Restart Projects we’ve shown that troubleshooting and repair is not only possible but educational, enlightening, and fun. They also convey critical thinking and disassembly skills that help inform products and devices going forward — whether you’re making one or million — and build a more resilient and robust society going forward.

The next steps in the evolution of Fixit Clinic are:

To gather data on the durability and repairability of the items we use now to inform policy makers and manufacturers going forward

To weave the skills of repair and the ethos of maintenance into the educational process. (We are holding more and more Fixit Clinics at educational student institutions — from elementary schools to universities — to inform up and coming engineers and designers how to design for serviceability, durability, maintainability, serviceability, repairability from the get-go.

Moonshot: wholesale change in the consumer mindset around consumption: understanding the true impact of the way we practice consumption currently: the financial impact on ourselves of choosing poorly manufactured and designed goods, and the subsequent impact on the planet of the premature loss of utility of those goods.

Finally: there’s also right to repair legislation going through numerous states that makes it possible for people to repair their own items without falling afoul of the law or their warranty rights.

Can we add Florida to that list?

We’re betting yes! Get your FREE tickets to attend Gulf Coast Maker & Comic Con, March 24 at St. Petersburg College- Seminole Campus , and learn how you can be part of the Fixit Clinic movement, and to register your own Maker booth today! (Maker booth registration closes Monday, March 19)